Melissa or lemon mint is a perennial herb with delicate taste and aroma, widely used in cooking and for medical purposes.
Both fresh and dried melissa leaves can be bought at a store or pharmacy, but many prefer to grow and harvest it themselves.
In order to preserve all the useful properties of this plant for the winter, it is important to know when and how it should be collected. The article presents useful tips: when and how to collect lemon balm for drying for the winter.
When to cut lemon mint - before or after flowering?
Blossom under favorable conditions Melissa can from July to September, but in order for the plant to be the richest in nutrients, and to retain its flavor as long as possible, it is recommended to observe the collection time - before or at the very beginning of flowering, when the buds have not yet blossomed. With proper harvesting from the same plant, you can get up to three harvests per summer.
Are all varieties can be harvested for tea and other purposes?
At the moment, a great many varieties of lemon balm have been bred (Pearl, Isidora, Quadrille, Lemon flavor, etc.), all of them are suitable for collection and harvesting.
If it is planned to collect wild plants, special attention should be paid to the place where they are located. In no case plants harvested near roads, near landfills or plants cannot be harvested.
What time of the day is better to collect the leaves?
It is best to choose to collect lemon balm first half of the day when the dew dries out. In the early morning or in the evening, the leaves may be wet, and this will lead to the fact that during drying they will begin to rot or mold. For the same reason, it is not recommended to do the harvesting after the rain. In order to achieve a good result, it is worth waiting for dry, warm weather.
How to carry out the procedure?
For harvesting on an industrial scale or in the presence of a large number of plants, you can use a sickle or pruner, but it is most convenient to pick off the leaves and young shoots with your hands. In addition, manual collection allows you to cause less damage to plants and choose only fresh and healthy leaves.
Regardless of the way, you need to remember that it is impossible to tear off all flower stalks or uproot the plant, as this will not allow Melissa to multiply, and the number of plants will soon begin to decline rapidly.
Cut or cut the leaves should be at a height not lower than 10 cm from the ground. The remaining leaves allow the plant to continue its growth, and only the youngest and freshest leaves will be used for harvesting.
Step-by-step instruction
For culinary purposes, including the preparation of various tinctures, it is better to use fresh lemon balm leaves, and dried medicinal teas and collections are quite suitable. The collection process does not change significantly with one exception - the leaves that can be used fresh can be washed, but those leaves that are prepared for drying, wetting is not recommended.
If the plants show signs of contamination (dust, sand), it is best to thoroughly wash them out of a watering can or hose a few hours before harvest and wait for it to dry completely.
Billet lemon balm:
- Harvesting should be done in the first half of the day (before lunch) in dry sunny weather.
- Make sure the leaves are dry and clean. You can not collect lemon balm after rain or with damp dew, as this can cause rotting when you dry them.
- Carefully cut or tear off the top leaves or shoots (at a distance of 10-15 cm from the ground). Carefully monitor the condition of the leaves, dry, diseased or damaged leaves are not suitable for harvesting. It is also better to remove such leaves so that the disease or parasites do not spread and do not take away power from the plant.
Compliance with the collection conditions will make it possible to derive the greatest benefit from medicinal teas, infusions and baths prepared on the basis of lemon balm.
We offer to watch a video on how the lemon balm is prepared for the winter:
How many times a year can you harvest leaves?
With proper care and favorable conditions for the season, you can get three or even four crops, especially if the plant is maintained in a timely manner by adding feedings. In order after the first collection of melissa continued active growth, you need to make sure that the plant has sufficiently healthy leaves, and the remaining stem is not less than 10-15 cm in length.
Self-harvested according to the rules, the grass will always be tastier and healthier.than any store-bought supplement. No sedative collection can do without lemon balm, and even the usual black or green tea can make this fragrant grass completely new. That is why lemon mint is so often found in vegetable gardens and on summer cottages.
